City Council Approves Purchase of Pre-Owned Fire Truck

The Chicago Heights City Council approved the purchase of a $50,000 pre-owned fire truck from the Village of Tinley Park.

The Chicago Heights fire department could have an addition to its fleet of fire trucks in the coming weeks, should the village of Tinley Park approve the sale of a 1994 Spartan Diamond … [Darley] Pumper … to Chicago Heights at its Tuesday, March 19 city council meeting.

Chicago Heights City Council members approved the purchase of the truck at its Monday, March 18 meeting. The truck will cost the city $50,000.

The truck, which has only 17,000 miles on it, comes with all the ‘bells and whistles,’ Angell said, stating the truck will come with almost all of the hoses, radios and ladders still on it. He added that the price of the truck is well under the cost of purchasing a new truck, which could cost the city between $325,000 and $375,000.

thanks Bill

Tinley Park Engine 211, a 1994 Spartan Diamond/Darley with a 1,500-GPM pump and 500 gallons of water may be purchased by the Chicago Heights Fire Department. Bill Friedrich photo

The Schiller Park Fire Department in MABAS Division 20 has been added to the site. Schiller Park has two stations, though only the headquarters station is staffed. The second station currently houses a reserve engine and ambulance. The suppression fleet consists of Pierce apparatus with a broad range of chassis: Saber, Enforcer, Dash, & Impel. Ambulances are from Wheeled Coach, Road Rescue, and very soon from Medtec as well.

Daily staffing includes an engine, an ambulance, a shift commander, and a jump company for the tower ladder or a second ambulance. Although apparatus is currently black over red, Schiller Park was at one time lime green and also had separate fire and EMS divisions.

Cadillac Ambulance 452 used by the Schiller Park EMS prior to merging with the fire department. Larry Shapiro photo

This version of Engine 455 was delivered in 1976 by W.S. Darley on a Hendrickson chassis with an 1871-C cab. It carried 500 gallons of water with a 1,250-GPM pump. Larry Shapiro photo

Schiller Park Engine 455 was refurbished by RPI in 1992 which included a full cab enclosure and a new color scheme. Larry Shapiro photo

Schiller Park Engine 455 was delivered in 1995 by Pierce on a Saber chassis with a 1,250-GPM pump and 500 gallons of water. Today this is the reserve engine out of Station 2 and has been renumbered as Engine 456. Larry Shapiro photo

Schiller Park Fire Station 1 is part of the municipal complex with the police department and city government offices. Larry Shapiro photo

Cicero Haz Mat 1 in 1976 was this lime green unit built by Koeing on a Ford F-600 chassis. Bill Friedrich photo

Haz Mat 1 was kept at Sta.2

Cicero Squad F-11 was this white truck built by Wolverine on a Ford F-600 chassis in 1976. It had a 25′ elevating ladder which was more commonly used by outdoor sign companies. Bill Friedrich photo

Here is a shot shortly after the Western Electric plant in Cicero closed down. This was Engine 6 on the radio.

Cicero acquired this 1978 Ford F-700/Howe commercial engine from the Western Electric Plant Brigade when it closed. This had a 750-GPM pump with 600 gallons of water. Bill Friedrich photo

The engine was sold to a department in Alabama. It was at Cicero for about 1-2 years. They did not care for the lime green color. Western Electric employed around 20,000 people and was located near 22nd & Cicero. They did have a full time department.

Cicero Engine 3 was delivered by W.S. Darley in 1981 on a Ford C-8000 chassis with a custom canopy configuration. Originally it was all white but was later repainted to match the new color scheme. Bill Friedrich photo

Tinley Park ordered a new aerial ladder which will replace this 1994 Spartan/Darley pumper/squad in addition to a Seagrave ladder truck. Karl Klotz photo

The new truck was designed to accommodate specialized rescue and basic haz-mat, as well as fire suppression duties. It will be housed at Station 1 and will function as a jump-company for about a year until additional staffing is added. Currently, there is one crew at Station 1 which staffs Engine Co 201. Truck Co. 201 will be due on all Box Alarms when a truck is requested, Full-Stills in the village, I-80 auto accidents, specialized rescue responses, and eventually it will be an additional daily staffed truck company. Currently there is only one staffed truck company (Truck Co. 204) which is housed at Station 4. This new truck is slated for delivery in the spring of 2013.

This will be the first Pierce aerial for the TPFD and the first strait ladder since 1976. Currently, TPFD has five Pierce Dash engines and two 95′ E-ONE tower ladders assigned to Truck Co. 202 and Truck Co. 204.

Tim Olk took a drive on Monday to visit the fire scene in Peru, IL. When he went down there, they were over 30 hours into the fire and had requested a 4th Alarm for tankers to the scene. Tim found fires still burning and producing large amounts of smoke throughout many areas of the complex. He took a large amount of photos during the time he was on-scene which will be online in the coming hours. Here are a few samples of what he found in Peru. Earlier coverage of the fire can be found HERE.

A Pierce tower ladder from the Mendota Fire Department works an elevated master stream into one building in the Westclox complex in Peru, IL. Tim Olk photo

Another Pierce tower ladder, this one belonging to the Peru Fire Department, works at an adjacent building. Tim Olk photo

Firefighters direct a hand line into one of the buildings in an effort to extinguish some of the fire that still burns more than day after the fire broke out. Tim Olk photo

A section of the former clock company that has been totally destroyed. Tim Olk photo

An engine from LaSalle pumps water from the porta-tanks that are constantly refilled by one of the many tankers on the scene. Tim Olk photo

A tanker from the Oglesby Fire District takes a turn at the porta-tanks. Tim Olk photo

The water supply officer prepares to send this tanker from the Standard Fire Protection District to dump it's water. Tim Olk photo

A Darley engine from the Dixon Rural Fire District pumps at the fire scene. Tim Olk photo

Firefighters were kept at a distance during the height of the fire due to the intense heat and are just now able to move in and hit all of the remaining fires. Here they douse a dumpster in a loading dock area near several burned trailers. Tim Olk photo

Well over a day after the initial fire was intentionally set, parts of the scene are still shrouded in thick smoke. Tim Olk photo

A Pierce Arrow engine from Peru pumps from another porta-tank set up in a different section of the complex. Tim Olk photo